# lap

> English word · Noun · IPA /læp/ · frequency rank #5,335

## Definitions
1. The loose part of a coat; the lower part of a garment that plays loosely; a skirt; an apron.
2. An edge; a border; a hem, as of cloth.
3. The part of the clothing that lies on the knees or thighs when one sits down; that part of the person thus covered.
4. A place of rearing and fostering.
5. The upper legs of a seated person.
6. The female pudenda.
7. A component that overlaps or covers any portion of itself or of an adjacent component.

## Etymology
From Middle English lappe, from Old English læppa (“skirt or flap of a garment”), from Proto-Germanic *lappô (“cloth; rag”), of uncertain origin, possibly Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“to hang loosely”). Cognate with Dutch lap (“cloth; rag”), German Lappen (“cloth; lobe; flap”), Icelandic leppur (“rag; patch”).

## Easily confused with
- **le** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-le)
- **li** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-li)
- **Lt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-lt)
- **lo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-lo)
- **lb** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-lb)
- **LP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-lp)
- **LN** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-ln)
- **Ls** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-ls)
- **lg** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-lg)
- **lu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-lu)
- **LC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-lc)
- **LF** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-lf)
- **LV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-lv)
- **LR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-lr)
- **LM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-lm)
- **LJ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-lj)
- **lx** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-lx)
- **LZ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-lz)
- **lot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-lot)
- **let** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lap-vs-let)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/lap